Something That Wasn't There Before
by belle-ny
Summary: AU. Neal and Belle are classmates ans friends. She's tutoring him in Literature to help Neal fix his grades. Mr. Gold thinks there could be something more than friendship, but he doesn't know that Neal has a crush on Belle's friend Emma, who recently moved to town with her parents, and Belle... Belle has her eyes set on the pawnbroker himself! Rumbelle with a side of SwanThiefire.
1. Chapter 1

**A****/****N:** Pamela Wand is the Blue Fairy's character name. None of her OUaT names suited the story, so I had to come up with a new one.

** I**

It was a quiet evening in the quiet town of Storybrooke and sun was just beginning to set. But Robert Gold was far from appreciating the peaceful surroundings. His knuckles turned white from how hard he was gripping the steering wheel as he drove to his son's school. The power-hungry witch, otherwise known as Mayor Cora Mills, was interfering with his business and dealings in town at every opportunity she could find ever since he ended their dysfunctional relationship years ago. The whole thing was one big stupid mistake that Gold regretted till this very day. He was freshly divorced and just wanted to forget the pain and humiliation Milah put him trough, and Cora all but threw herself at him. She wasn't yet Mayor back then, and it took Gold too long to realize she wanted him for his influence and connections in town. By the time he saw how rotten and evil that woman was inside she already had enough resources to get the chair and the power she craved. All he could do was to end their affair there and then telling Cora exactly who she was. Apparently, it hit a little too close to home. Now her daughter Regina - the new Principal of his son's school, a smart and beautiful thirty-something woman, who still painfully depended on her mommy's approval and willingly became her puppet - tried to drag his son into their cold war. Whatever reason Regina made up for his visit she refused to discuss on the phone, which was why Gold had to close his shop early and go to her office personally.

"Things would be so much easier if he owned the school building like he did half of Storybrooke property." - Gold thought regretfully as he entered deserted reception area. That didn't help with his mood and Gold let out an irritated sigh when he heard a soft female voice from behind of him:

"Um…Excuse me, do you need help?"

He turned around and saw a tiny blue-eyed brunette chewing on her lover lip. The girl, most likely a senior student, was sitting in a chair at the opposite wall, which was why Gold didn't notice her when he all but barged into the room.

"Hi." She said with a shy smile when he met her eyes.

"Hello, I'm looking for Principal Mills."

"She is in her office with…"

Gold didn't give her a chance to finish as he started toward the door the girl pointed at.

"You can't come in." She called after him slightly raising her voice, which made Gold glare at her. "She is with a student. They should be done soon." She explained apologetically.

"Miss, I don't care if she is with a student or if they're done! Your Principal all but demanded my presence here and I'm not about to…"

At this moment the door opened and he saw another girl coming out and Regina behind her. The girl had long blond hair tied up in a horsetail. She was dressed as if she was about to hop up on a bike – heavy black leather boots, jeans, white t-shirt and a red leather jacket.

"Emma, I hope we understand each other, and won't have to come back to this conversation again." Regina said holding the door to let her out.

"Yes, Ms. Mills." Girl looked like she wanted to punch Regina in the face, but instead she headed to the brunette, who apparently was there waiting for her friend, and in a moment, mumbling their goodbyes, they both were gone.

"Mr. Gold, I'm very glad you could make it." Regina said with the smile of a shark looking at someone she'd like to sink her teeth in, as she gestured for Gold to enter the office.

"Always a pleasure to see you, Ms. Mills." He said heading for the chair in front of her desk.

The conversation promised to be long and anything but pleasant.

**II**

"Can you believe that? Some girl gets into my face, and I am the one being called to the Principal!?" Emma raged while she and Belle were driving home from school. "What the hell is her problem, anyway? I don't even know her name!"

"You mean the girl you punched?" Belle said with a smirk.

"Yeah, the cheerleader bitch that ruined my day."

"Her name is Tamara and it's not like her, usually she's pretty nice. I don't know what's gotten into her. I'll ask Neal. Maybe he knows what's going on."

"Neal? What he has to do with any of this?" Emma asked trying and failing to hide her interest.

"He and Tamara sort of hung out for a while." Belle said studying Emma's expression.

"Were they like dating?" Emma asked with disappointment on her face.

"I don't really know. I mean, I saw them together a few times - leaving school or drinking coffee and stuff like that, but Neal and I never talked about it. As far as I know he's not dating Tamara, or anyone, now." Belle said arching an eyebrow.

"Why should I care if Neal's dating or not?" Emma asked sounding a bit too defensive.

"No reason." Belle said innocently flattering her eyelashes.

"Anyway, if that Tamara chick thinks she has a problem with me, I'll give her a problem!"

"And I thought you and the Principal "understand each other"." Belle said mocking Regina and earned a glare from her friend.

Emma went on about how Regina got on her nerves in those 15 minutes she spent at Principal's office, and Belle's mind wandered back to the person she met while waiting for her friend. Belle couldn't explain her fascination with the man she didn't really know. But ever since she was little and visited his shop for the first time with her mother, who was looking for a birthday present for a friend, he captured her attention and intrigued her. At first, it wasn't him as much as all the trinkets he had in his shop. Belle's mother found she had a soft spot for antiques and became a frequent client at Gold's shop taking her little daughter along. Belle loved reading fantasy and adventure stories and had a vivid imagination, so to her each one of those objects belong to some kind of a fairy tale and once had magical properties. But no one believed in magic in this world and eventually it was gone. Belle even went as far as imagining the pawnbroker to be a sorcerer or a kind magician like Merlin, who lived in a castle and princes and princesses would come to him seeking help or advise. As time passed and she was growing up, Belle came to like his perfectly tailored suits and the way he talked, his wits and sense of humor, even though some people found his jokes offensive. And no words could describe what his smirk did to her insides. Belle couldn't pin point the exact moment she realized she was attracted to him. But now, whenever she saw Mr. Gold across the street, at a coffee shop or buying some supplies at a drug store her heart started racing, heat raised in her cheeks and she couldn't stop staring at him feeling the urge or more like an itch to run her fingers through his hair and ghost the line of his jaw with kisses. He had a certain reputation in town and some people even called him a monster referring to his business style. Others implied he might be involved into something criminal. Her own father paid rent to Mr. Gold every month, but whenever his name came up in the conversation, he would frown and change the subject. And yet Belle wasn't afraid of him. If anything, all that only made her curious and eager to get to know more about Mr. Gold. What did scare Belle was the force with which she was drawn to him.

"Hello!" Emma shouted making Belle jump in the passenger seat. "Where the hell are you flying?! I called your name like five times!"

"Um, sorry. I was…erm…just thinking about something."

"About what?"

"Did you see the guy who was waiting with me when you came out of Regina's office?"

"Yeah?"

"That was Mr. Gold, Neal's father. And considering his mood and the very fact of his presence there, Neal is in for a very unpleasant conversation tonight."

"What did he do that Regina wanted to see his father instead of him?"

"Nothing, as far as I know, but it might have something to do with his grades. And Neal told me that his father expects him to get into some very prestigious college, so Regina probably wanted to express her fake concern about Neal's future and just rub it into Mr. Gold's face."

"And what does the Queen of Mean have against Neal's father? Or she is just a bitch like that?"

"She is a complicated person. I don't know exactly what happened, but it's an unspoken truth that the two can't stand each other. Probably it has something to do with the Mayor."

"The Mayor? Now I'm officially lost."

"Right, you don't know. Regina is Mayor's daughter. And if you think she is bad, Cora is the mother of all evil. She and Mr. Gold have this sort of rivalry for power – whatever little property he doesn't own in this town, she does."

"My God, people! For a small provincial town things are way too complicated here." Emma chuckled.

"You have no idea!" Belle laughed. "By the way, speaking of families and complications, when are you going to tell me your "long story", as you keep referring to it whenever it comes up in the conversation?"

"Oh, well, I guess sooner or later I'm gonna have to anyway. You wanna stop at Granny's for a cup of coffee, so you would have something to choke on when you hear it?"

"Sure."

Emma's story really wasn't something you would normally expect from your friend's family history. It was more of a talk show/soap opera material with a lot of drama, betrayal in the family and young lovers torn apart. David and Mary Margaret Nolan, Emma's both biological and adoptive parents, met when Mary Margaret was still in high school and David started college. It was a fairytale love at first sigh kind of thing, but unfortunately it was not the happy ending David's father George Spencer planned for his son. George was a senior partner in one of the biggest law firms in Boston. Arthur Midas was a senior partner in a competing firm and George wanted David to marry his daughter Kathryn to create the basis for an alliance. David and Kathryn were friends, bonded over having fathers who tried to control their lives. They could talk for hours and really cared for each other, but love didn't happen no matter how much time they spent together. And that was a lot considering that they even were in the same class in law school, which David suspected wasn't an accident.

Regardless to how blind their fathers were, David knew that Kathryn wouldn't be able to fall in love with another man while Frederic was still in the picture. They were high school sweethearts and planned to get married after they graduate from college, but fate had other plans. Frederick had an accident while skiing with his family that resulted in a coma. Kathryn visited him every chance she had, and every time she would come back devastated even more because there would be no changes in his condition. Apart from Kathryn's marriage to David being good for business and her future financial stability, Midas didn't want his only daughter he adored to spend her life at Frederick's bed, waiting for a miracle that was unlikely to happen.

As for David, he didn't really know what he wanted to do with his life, so he agreed to follow his father's carrier path. Things changed when he met Mary Margaret. With her he could see the future, home and kids. David didn't care how or where, he just wanted them to be together. He didn't even blink when Spencer threatened to cut him off and disinherit David. He didn't care about the law degree anyway. Mary Margaret loved kids and wanted to be a middle school teacher and David would be perfectly content coaching a football team at the same school, which with his skills wouldn't be a problem. They both were so absorbed in love and planning their future together that they didn't see dark clouds gathering on the horizon.

Mary Margaret had her own family issues. Having lost her mother Eva as little girl and being adored by her father Leopold Blanchard, she was hated by her stepmother Pamela, who married Leopold for money and couldn't wait to get rid of him and his daughter to get her hands on the money. Leopold had a company that produced apple juice, cider, apple purees and alike. Money Pamela would get after selling it would be enough for her to enjoy the careless lifestyle she always wanted.

They met at Leopold's friend bachelor party that took place at the strip club where Pamela worked. Her stage name was the Blue Fairy, because of her costume and the custom of sprinkling the sparkling dust on each guy who put a hundred dollar bill in her panties. Mary Margaret never understood how her father could fall for a woman like Pamela Wand, not because of her job, but because she was just as fake as her plastic fairy wings. Like every predator, Pamela smelled a pray in Leopold who had conservative moral views, but still bought her story about stripping only to pay for the nurses school, when in reality she was whoring around looking for a rich husband. He paid for her courses and they started to spend a lot of time together. He was referring to her as his "closest friend", and after awhile, Leopold announced their engagement.

Once she had the ring on her finger and the name Blanchard in her documents, Pamela started looking for a way to get rid of her new family. That's when Spencer contacted her to discuss the possibility of joining their efforts for the mutual benefit.

The plan they came up with worked like a true fairy's charm. Leopold had a weak heart, so no one was surprised when he died of a sudden heart attack. The surprises for every one who knew the family came later with the autopsy results. Pathologists found out that Leopold's heart attack was caused by an abnormal dose of a heart medicine he wasn't supposed to take in his condition. But the biggest shock was that Mary Margaret became the prime suspect in her father's murder, while Pamela played the role of a widow inconsolable for her loss, waiting for the conviction to finally become Leopold's only heir.

With Spencer's connections the verdict was no surprise and there was nothing Mary Margaret's attorney, Mr. Gepetto could do about it, the main reason being his bank account that acquired few extra zeros overnight. The old man would've never done something like that, but his son August was dying of a rare autoimmune disease that confined him to bed and required an expensive treatment Gepetto otherwise wouldn't be able to afford.

David was in college when all this happened and when he came to visit Spencer told him that Mary Margaret was so devastated over the loss of her father that she left town wanting to leave the past and everyone in it behind. He even showed David a note from Mary Margaret proving his words, which was another major expense on George's account since he had to hire one of the best forge specialists to fake the girl's hand writing. Of course David went to Mary Margaret's house, still hoping it was all a lie, but when Pamela confirmed the story he had no other choice than to accept the reality.

After that David lost any interest in what happens with his life and agreed to marry Kathryn, who was in a similar condition since doctors informed her that Frederick's brain activity was decreasing and he was slipping further away.

The two graduated and got married just like their fathers wanted. They were rich, successful and anything, but happy.

10 years passed with each day being exactly like the one before until David's new case chattered the usual order of things. One of his university friends was now the Principal at a high school. One of his teachers was involved in a dispute after a kid got traumatized in class. This case was much smaller than the ones David normally handled, but he agreed to help his old friend out. When he went to the school wanting to see the place of the accident himself David saw a ghost from his past that was very real and just as shocked. Mary Margaret wasn't the teacher facing trial, but she had classes next door to the room where everything happened and wanted to assure the attorney that her friend didn't do anything negligent.

After the initial shock, came anger and accusations, as each of them blamed the other one for leaving without a word and betraying their love. And then, with the truth, came tears and pain because of the lost time and being stabbed in the back by the closest people who were supposed to take care of them.

Gepetto couldn't live with himself knowing that a young innocent girl went to jail and once August's life was no longer in danger he turned himself in and confessed. Mary Margaret's convection was vacated immediately, her record expunged with apologies from the state while Spencer, Pamela and Gepetto faced the trial.

David felt that they got the second chance to be together, but Mary Margaret was despondent pushing David away, even having learned that he still loved her. She couldn't tell him the last dark secret of their past terrified that he would hate her. David, on the other hand, was determined to win his true love back. He told Kathryn everything and, contrary to what he expected, she was happy that at least one of them could be reunited with the person they loved.

Divorce was finalized in a record time and David devoted all his efforts to finding out what stopped Mary Margaret from getting back together with him. Eventually she couldn't keep closing off any longer and confessed that while in prison she found out she was pregnant. Mary Margaret was young, lost and broken. She didn't see herself fit for a mother and wanted their child to have its best chance, which couldn't be with her. Especially since she was facing 25 to life at the time. She gave up their daughter for adoption, but not a day passed by that she didn't regret it.

Mary Margaret expected to see hate and loathing on David's face, but he took her in his arms and vowed not to stop until they find their little girl, even though the only thing they knew was the name Mary Margaret gave her before the girl was taken away. The name was Emma.

"Un-freaking-believable!" Belle breathed out staring at her friend.

"Told ya." Emma smirked. "I was travelling back and forth between children's homes and temporary families where I was just a meal ticket when they found me. I wasn't exactly a present, so no one wanted to take me in permanently." Emma let out a bitter little laugh. "And of course I didn't want to have anything to do with the jerks who refused from me, but they told me what happened and eventually I realized that I was being a jerk to the people who lost and suffered enough already." She finished with a sad smile on her face.

"So your biological parents had to adopt you?"

"Yep, it was faster than starting a process to get their parental rights back. They got married quickly because social services tend to be more favorable to married couples looking to adopt, and since David had a very handsome bank account after years of being a successful lawyer everything went smoothly. Once all papers were in order, they started thinking about leaving Boston and starting over somewhere new. Mary Margaret's friend Ruby, who leaves here with her husband Peter, told her that there was a history teacher position open at the local school and luckily enough they needed a coach for the their football team as well, so the decision was made pretty fast."

"And how come that your grandfather's name is Spencer and yours and you father's is Nolan?"

"Oh, that." Emma frowned. "Nolan is David's mother maiden name. After what his father had done, David didn't want to have anything in common with him, including his name."

"And you still can't call them mom and dad?"

"Well, everything is still pretty recent, so calling them that is gonna take a little more time." Emma gave her a meaningful look and Belle nodded with understanding.

For a while girls sat in silence, Belle tried to process everything she heard and Emma got lost in her thoughts and memories that came back after telling the story and partly reliving it again.

"Oh, I forgot one more thing!" Emma remembered suddenly. "David and Kathryn still keep in touch. She called the other day and told him that Frederick came out of his coma. He is getting better everyday now and they're even thinking about setting the date sometimes soon."

"The date?" Belle frowned.

"Of the wedding." Emma grinned.

"Oh, my God!" Belle gasped. "Talk about the happy endings!"

"I know, my parents are very happy for them and gladly agreed to come to the wedding."


	2. Chapter 2

**III**

The next day at school Belle couldn't wait for the lunch break to talk to Neal and find out if she was right about the reason Mr. Gold came to school. Last night, after Emma dropped her off at home, Belle couldn't stop thinking about the story she heard. It was incredible, beautiful and tragic and impressed Belle a lot. It also got her thinking. Belle has been harboring her feelings for Gold for quite some time now. She always was a dreamer with her nose in a book and head in the clouds, but, nevertheless, she knew where to draw the line between fantasies and the real life. Mr. Gold was a grown up man and she was a teenager. Their age difference never bothered Belle, but she thought it might not be the case with Robert, not mentioning her father and Gold's son and everyone around them. But Belle was older now and having learned about all crazy and somewhat unrealistic things that happened to Emma's parents and David's wife, how those people fought for their happiness she thought that maybe she also had a shot at making her own fairy tale a reality. The least Belle could do was try, otherwise she was going to live her whole life with regret not knowing what could have happened.

Belle barely had any sleep at night, but she came up with the plan. First of all, she needed to get closer to Gold, needed a way in and that required Neal wanting to fix his grades.

"Hey, there." Belle smiled at Neal when she finally located him at the cafeteria.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Just wanted to make sure you were alive after I saw your father at the Principal's office yesterday."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Neal frowned.

"So it was bad, huh?"

"You know what it's about?"

"We have a few classes together, so yeah, I figured it had something to do with your grades taking a dive."

"I'm gonna be the one taking a dive, an involuntarily one, if I don't fix things fast." Neal said with a meaningful look.

"You know, I'm pretty good with Literature. I've already read everything in the program, so I could help you prepare for tests and essays and staff like that, it'll give you more time to work on other subjects." Belle said nonchalantly.

"It'd be great, but don't you have better things to do after school?"

"Well, you could make up for my time by helping me with Computer Science." Belle smirked.

"Ah!" Now Neal realized where she was coming from. "No problemo, I could do those programs in my sleep." Neal said with a smug expression on his face, pretending to fix an invisible tie.

"I just hope you won't fall asleep while we'll be studying." Belle chuckled.

"I can't promise anything if we'll be studying Literature." Neal said and earned a glare from Belle. He did that on purpose knowing how passionate she was about reading. "Sorry." He raised his hands up. "Can we start tonight?"

"Perfect, but it'll have to be at your house, because if we go to mine my dad is gonna be watching us like a hawk, thinking you're using this tutoring thing as an excuse to get into my pants." Belle rolled her eyes. She needed them to study at Neal's house for the obvious reasons, but Moe being paranoid about any boy who as much as looked at Belle was also true.

"Sure, no problem." Neal laughed. "It'll even work for my benefit, because my dad will see me actually trying to fix the situation."

* * *

When Gold opened his front door he heard an unfamiliar female voice that came from the living room talking about poetry of all things.

"Bae?" Pawnbroker called when he saw his son and a girl about the same age sitting on the floor by the coffee table covered with books and papers. The two were obviously too absorbed in the subject on their hands to notice him.

"Oh, hi dad." Neal said, as both popped their heads up. "This is my classmate and a good friend Belle French. She is helping me with Literature. Belle, this is my father Mr. Gold."

"Hello, Mr. Gold." Belle said with a soft smile and blushed a little.

"Nice to meet you, Belle. Thank you for helping my son out." He said returning her smile.

"Well, he is also helping me with another subject, so it's a win-win." Belle said blushing further. She had to get a grip of herself if she was going to come here on a daily basis! But she just couldn't help the butterflies going crazy in her stomach.

"French?" Gold asked as if he suddenly remembered something. "Are you Moe French's daughter?"

"Yes, I am. I was a bit confused that you didn't recognize me." Belle said chewing on her lower lip.

"My apologies, Belle. I thought you looked familiar, but I decided it was because I saw you the other day at school. Now, it turns out I didn't recognize you twice." He laughed. "It's just that… uh, you're all grown up." Gold said looking her over, as if he was surprised such a thing could happen and Belle all but beamed at him. "I mean, I still remember you with ponytails when you poked around my shop. Not mentioning that you were …blond." Gold said narrowing his eyes.

"Oh, right! I dyed my hair a while ago. You know, just to try something new." She explained touching her brown tresses.

"Well, then I feel a little less guilty for my mistake." Gold said with a smile.

"Okay, if you two are done discussing common memories and hair colors, Belle and I still have a lot of material to cover." Neal interrupted with an impatient sigh.

"Of course, wouldn't want to keep you from fixing your grades." Gold said giving Neal a knowing smirk. "Nice to see you again, Belle. And good luck with your studies." He said before turning to leave the room.

"Thanks, Mr. Gold. Nice to see you too."

"Did he call you Bae? I thought your name was Neal?" Belle asked with a puzzled look on her face when Gold left.

"It is. Baelfire is my middle name."

"Baelfire? Wow, it's beautiful and very unusual."

"Yeah, "unusual" is why it's my middle name, but my dad still likes it better. It's an old family name, so he calls me Bae at home. And Neal was my mom's idea."

Belle bit her lower lip. She knew she wouldn't have a better opportunity to ask the question that's been hunting her, but she still didn't dare.

"It's okay, Belle. You can ask." Neal said, as if he read her thoughts. "I'm pretty certain you heard about her, and I'm even more certain that it was far more dramatic than what really happened."

"And what really happened?" Belle asked cautiously.

"Well, contrary to the popular belief, my dad didn't keep her looked in the basement and didn't bury her body in the backyard." He said with a little laugh that was far from fun. "It's a long story. Short version: apparently, my mother was bored spending time in beauty salons, shopping and meeting friends. That's when a group of bikers calling themselves "The Pirates" was passing through Storybrooke. My mom and her friends were drinking at the Rabbit Hole when she met their "captain" Killian Johnes or Jansen, or whatever the hell his name was. And a week later she skipped town with him."

"Just like that?!" Belle gasped. "Without even telling anyone?" She couldn't believe it. Neal was wrong, the reality was more dramatic than any gossip she heard.

"Yep. Of course, my dad started to look for her, thinking she was kidnaped or something. He contacted the police, the feds, everyone really. That's when he received a phone call from mommy dearest, demanding him to stop embarrassing her with this investigation and making her look like she was some run-away kid. She even complained that she was afraid to go grocery shopping because she thought she might see her face on a milk carton."

Belle was staring at Neal with an open mouth unable to say a word causing him to snort.

"Wait, it gets better." He said with bitter irony in his voice. "Dad told me she went to visit some friends in another state, and that there was some kind of an accident and my mom died. I was only 7 years old, so it wasn't very difficult to make me buy the story. But even though I was little, I couldn't help but notice how much he changed in the following years. He became a cynical, bitter, closed off shadow of my real dad. Years later I found the divorce papers by sheer accident. I called him a liar and demanded an explanation. He didn't want to tell me trying to save me the pain, but I threw a huge tantrum and he just blurted it out. They finalized everything quietly about a year after she left. And it only took so long because she and her "pirate" boyfriend tried to sue as much money from dad as they could. Each time he tried to refuse her something she would threaten to start a custody battle, and he was too terrified of losing me to risk it. Finally, he gave her everything she asked for and never heard from her again."

"And you didn't have any contact with her ever since?"

"Naturally, I didn't believe that my mother could do something like that. What kid would, right? Dad gave me her old cell phone number they used during the divorce process. I called and my mom still had it. She told me…um, she was sorry she had to leave like that, but she was unhappy in marriage because she never loved my dad, and that I should be happy for her because now she was with her true love. I hung up and did my best to forget about her. The only good thing that came out of it was that it brought my dad and me closer again. It seemed to have lifted some weight off of him since he didn't have to hide it from me any more."

"Oh, my God, Neal. I…I don't even know what to say. I'm so sorry. I feel so bad for asking." Belle squeezed his hand not knowing what else to do or say.

"It's okay, Belle. You know, there is something about you that makes it surprisingly easy to talk and open up." Neal said with a sad smile. "Besides, as Dr. Hopper, who I visited for about two years after I found out about all that, used to say – talking and sharing you pain may not make it go away, but it will make it easier to deal with it."

"In this case, I really hope it will." She said giving Neal a soft smile.

"Uh, it's kinda late already." Neal said looking at the clock. "What do you say if we call it a night and meet a bit earlier next time?" He asked obviously affected by the painful memories.

"Of course. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." Belle said cursing her curiosity.

"You didn't, my mother did. Besides, it's really late and we have too much work, so we better start fresh next time."

"Okay, see you tomorrow then." Belle agreed and stood up to leave. "And say goodnight to your father from me."

"I will."

When Belle left Neal started cleaning books and notes from the coffee table and felt his father's stare on the back of his head.

"Pretty girl. You like her?" Gold asked nonchalantly leaning at the wall.

"There we go." Neal thought with a sigh. He was naïve hoping that ignoring his father would help to avoid this conversation. Was going to bed in peace really too much to ask?

"No, dad. Belle is a friend."

"I don't remember you bringing female friends over before. You know… I could've stayed at the shop for a little longer if you'd asked me to." Gold said with a smirk. "I just hope you remember about practicing safe sex."

"Dad! It's not like that! She knows about my situation and offered to tutor me in Literature in exchange for me tutoring her in Computer Science."

"She offered? Hmm… and she's about to fail too?"

"No, her situation is not that bad, but Belle is a straight A student. She must've gotten a B- for some assignment and started panicking. She is a bit of a nerd, it's normal for her."

"And is it normal for her to blush so much around you?" Gold asked, still not convinced.

"Blushing started when you came home." Now, that Neal said it out loud, a thought came to his head, but he dismissed the idea as crazy.

"Well, she probably was just a bit shy and embarrassed that I walked in on you."

"Ugh! For the last time, dad, we're not dating. I'm not interested in her, and she is not interested in me! We're friends!" Neal growled and ran upstairs to hide in his room. "By the way, she asked to wish you good night." He shouted before shutting the door of his bedroom.

Gold poured himself some scotch and smiled, as he remembered a curious blond angel with huge blue eyes again. A "mini me" of her mother Rose, who always brought Belle along whenever she stepped by searching for another little trinket. He could barely tolerate adults let alone a bubbly kid, but as much as he tried to close off from her and the world in general, Belle got through his walls with her million and one questions and witty comments. Eventually, Gold found himself to be quite fond of her. But then Belle's mother died in a car accident and her visits stopped. Moe always dropped off rent money at the pawnshop during his flower delivery rounds and Gold didn't have a reason to go to his shop to collect it like he did in other cases. He just occasionally saw Belle somewhere in town so briefly that he didn't even recognize her when he saw a beautiful young woman instead of a child.


End file.
